Chapter 20 - Ashore (TCOK)
Month Star, Day 57, Year 2006 Fifteen days had passed since they had originally set on course for the Zaz Kingdom, and twenty-five had passed since Tubba washed aboard the SS Mahruav. Twenty-seven had passed since he had beaten Bubba in the fight in the gym. So much had changed. Mud, who was the type of person for records, informed him that he ascended the throne in the quickest time of any leader, breaking the previous record of two months by a big margin. Mud had also told him that the SS Mahruav had a secret base in the Zaz Kingdom, and there was a secret port to bring in the ship. Unfortunately, the last time they had been there, Gerald had been Captain, so he would know how to get in. "So, Mud, how much longer till the Zaz Kingdom?" Tubba asked his First Mate, who was currently ordering the crew to orient the sails. "No, Bright, port, not starboard! Sorry, what, Tubba?" "How much longer till the Zaz Kingdom?" Tubba repeated, getting irritated. "Keep your shell on, I'm working on it. What's our speed?" Mud said hastily, taking some paper out of his pocket. "25 knots, max speed." "Right, so that's about 30 miles per hour, which is about 46 kilometres an hour. Multiply 46 by 24, and then that by 15... that's 16,560 kilometres, approximately." Tubba could almost see the gears in Mud's mind working. "And the Zaz Kingdom is about 17,000 kilometres away from where we were, just outside Rogueport. We should get to the central island of the Zaz Kingdom in about 1-10 hours." "That's a pretty big time gap." Tubba remarked, while checking his highly advanced solar instrument(which was the sun,) to check whether they were still going in the right direction, which was roughly west. Then, looking at the charts, he tilted the wheel a bit to starboard, or the right, for Mud was plotting where they were every five minutes. "Compared to the what, 360 hours since we began this journey, I think 1-10 is reasonable. We can't be certain, we don't have highly advanced instruments, we're completely just going off the sun, these charts, and my sense of direction." Mud argued, "We're fine for what we've got." "We seriously need to upgrade this ship, don't we? How long has this ship been at sea?" Tubba inquired, guessing it had to be at least a hundred years. "Over two hundred years. Since the 1800's, that's why it's so old. If we had the new ships of today, we'd probably already be at the Zaz Kingdom. The first Captain was named Mahruav, that's why it's called the SS Mahruav." Mud explained, "At least, that's what's in the legends, but the ship had to have come from somewhere." "Legends. It feels like legends surround everything." Tubba remarked, "You know where my club came from?" "No, I don't, would you care to enlighten me?" "This club wasn't the one my father gave to me when I was born, the one, as I grew, added more wood to the bottom." Tubba explained, "This one is Karubba, my grandfather's club. He was a war king, and so it fits me better than my old one." "That's nice. I wouldn't call that a legend, though. You're going too far starboard, by the way, our angle is too sharp." Mud snorted, and Tubba corrected himself by turning the wheel slightly to port. "You want to know a trick to remembering which is which?" Mud asked, and Tubba was confused. Asking for clarification, Mud continued, "To remember port is left and starboard is right?" "No, I'm pretty set." Tubba dismissed Mud with a wave of his hand. "I'll tell you anyway." Mud ignored Tubba's dismissal of him, "Port and left both have four letters." "That's nice to know." Tubba intoned, then added, "Why are we chatting so casually? Don't we have bigger issues?" "One can always have fun." Mud grinned, "But I can tell that's a low key way of telling me to get to work. Yes, O great one." Nudging Tubba in a friendly way, the bandit walked off. Life kills you slowly day by day. At least a club will only kill you once. Everyday I suffer. From missing my kingdom, from regret that I can never be better than my brother. But I know I'm better, and I know I'm the rightful king. They'll see it one day. Bubba should thank me. He would never have managed to live under me as king, life would slowly kill him, until he would slit his own throat. Uarn should too. I overthrew him and ended him before the others could see how much of a better leader I was. Same thing would've happened to him had he lived. He would've not managed under me and he would've bashed his head in with a crowbar. Gwu would've been torn apart to see a leader who didn't respect her. She would've jumped off the ship in the middle of the night. Life would've killed her slowly. Gerald, losing how power, would've stabbed himself multiple times with a sword. Life would've killed him slowly. Snubba too. I did all of these people a favor. They may not know it, but I do. I saved them. "Land ahoy! Land ahoy!" That was Baran pulling Tubba out of his thoughts. They had reached the Zaz Kingdom! "Great. Now, I'm wanted in the Zaz Kingdom, so let's drop anchor here, and then five of us will go ashore in the smaller boat." Tubba called to his crew, who all gave cries of 'Yes!' or 'Aye!' "Mud, you'll come ashore with me. A group of five would attract less attention than an entire crew." Tubba told the crew of his plan, "Shaye, if we meet any resistance, we'll need someone to heal us, so that's you. Tarz, you'd know the entrance to the secret base and such, as you're one of the oldest, so I want you with me. Clam, you're the strongest fighter, you're coming with us. Baran, you'll be in charge." The four he had chosen began making their way to the boat, the crew parting to let them through. Striding down the stairs and then hopping into the boat, Tubba called, "Cast off!" Baran nodded, and the crew released the tiny boat into the sea. Clam, the strongest, took up the oars, and began powering them through the water. The journey itself was uneventful, in about fifteen minutes they washed ashore the Zaz Kingdom. They had planned to come to the south side of the Zaz Island, because that area was less inhabited. However, as they approached the sheer, stone cliffs, with vegetation above them, so dense that no one could live there, a sign planted there, clearly to dissuade travellers that were coming there for precisely the reason Tubba was-- for stealth, proclaimed: Welcome to the Zaz EMPIRE.